


Starlit Palms

by Blepshmep



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, feel free to just chill n' vibe with me tho lol, im just here for a good time, this fic is unplanned and completely self-serving
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:15:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28533510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blepshmep/pseuds/Blepshmep
Summary: The fic that nobody asked for but I apparently wrote during my english class when I was supposed to be working on my senior project!Also was inspired by my own doodles:https://blepydoodles.tumblr.com/post/188939378138/i-know-they-havent-met-in-cannon-yet-but-fuck-ithttps://blepydoodles.tumblr.com/post/188958147713/straycrayoncrypt-i-didnt-before-but-i-do-now
Relationships: Capone Bege/Charlotte Chiffon, Usopp/Charlotte Katakuri
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	1. Long Time No See

The strawhats find their ship smiling up at the familiar shape of the Nostra Castello.

“Only a matter of time before we ran into them again huh.” Jinbe remarks, accompanied by Luffy’s gleeful chuckle.

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s going on!? Do we know these guys??? Luffy???” Usopp grabs his captain by the shoulders, anxious of the heavily armed ship before them.

“Oh that’s right, you were in Wano so you all never met Bege and his crew yohohoho!” Brook verbalizes, posture relaxed since none of them exactly expect a fight from the old ally.

“Bege Capone, another captain in the worst generation correct?” Robin places a marker in her book and sets it aside for now.

“And it looks like they’ve got company.” Sanji notes the two ships flanking Nostra Castello. One being the former Rumbar pirate’s second ship, now belonging to the Rolling pirates, the other being an outlandish visual of sweets that was clearly made on Whole Cake Island, flying the Rolling pirate’s jolly roger.

“ **Hey strawhats! How goes it!** ” Lola calls loudly from the bow of her ship, megaphone in hand.

“ **HEY BOAR LADY! WE’RE AWESOME, HOW ABOUT YOU!?** ” Luffy screams, louder than the megaphone with seemingly no effort at all on his part.

“ **Glad to hear it! We’re doing ‘awesome’ ourselves! By the way, since we’re here will you all marry me?** ”

“ **No thanks!** ” The crew replies in a cheery chorus, save for Jinbe who looks both confused and distressed by the casual declaration.

“ **And that makes 7780 proposals and 7780 rejections!** ” The risky brother's voices chime cheerily through the megaphone.

Jinbe didn’t know whether to be relieved or even more confused.

The ships draw closer and fall in line with one another.

"Hey Strawhat, where's you all headed?" Bege asks, voice calmly at a reasonable volume now that they're no longer at shouting distance.

"To find adventure!" Luffy shouts gleefully to the open air.

Nami sighs, "The next island on the logpose, the last one didn't have any information on it so in a sense we don't know where we're going." Irritation over their lack of available information seeps into her voice.

"Well you might wanna find a different route. That next island there's a big shot marine base and they gave  _ us _ a lotsa trouble."

"And unfortunately it takes almost a week for the logpose to set there" Chiffon leans over her husband's shoulder and gives the crew a friendly wave.

"Well we don't have much option without an external pose to detour our course." Nami frowns, she really doesn't want to storm a military base today but-

"Shishishi" Nami and Usopp turn to their captain with knowing dread burrowing in their stomachs. "Sounds like fun! Nami!"

"Please don't…" she cries in a whisper.

"Set our course for that marine base! **Let's go kick some ass!** " Luffy cries into the open sea air.

"Are you crazy Luffy! Why would we want to overtake an entire marine base!?" Usopp cries, completely in vain.

"We don't have much choice. We don't have an eternal pose and we can't go back either." Nami sobbs, raising her wrist to display that only one of the three needles is pointing in a consistent direction.

"So we take the marine base. No problem." Zoro smirks, seeming to have woken up only as their captain had declared their course.

"Is this really a good idea?" Chopper asks joining his friends in the 'why can’t we have a normal field trip' trio.

"If I may ask, not that I am opposed to our captain's plan, how were you all traveling backwards from that island?" Robin addresses Bege.

“To be perfectly honest we’re sailing like _ a buncha blind idiots _ !” Pudding snaps, leaning off the rail of the desert ship to cast a pointed glare.

“Ah Pudding~ You’re here too?” Sanji swoons.

“Sh-SHut Up! I-it’s not like I came out here to find you or anything you incompetent blubbering dumbass!”

Sanji casts a warm smile to Pudding’s flustered wrath.

“I see..” Robin begins, opting to ignore the strange interaction before her. “Then perhaps it would be to our benefit to work together.”

Luffy grinns impossibly bigger at the idea and looks at his fellow captain in a way that universally conveys  _ ‘too late, you’re in this whether you like it or not’ _

Bege sighs, defeated before he could even try to call him crazy.

The Strawhats are all insane and to suggest otherwise might as well be an insult.

“Sounds interesting, I would like to see what it’s like to fight  _ beside _ you  _ Straw Hat Luffy. _ ” Katakuri’s large form behind Pudding comes to attention.

Had he been there the whole time? Had he moved as silent as the night? No one is sure.

One thing is for certain though, “Holy fuck that guy is huge… and cool.” Usopp whispers, taking heavy reassurance in the emphasis of fighting  _ with _ this guy and  **_not_ ** against him.


	2. Capture The Base

“Do we have to? I mean really! Can’t we just- find a place to lay low or something!?” Usopp tries in vain as they approach.

Katakuri’s eye twitches at the sound, he simply cannot wrap his mind around how someone so spineless even  _ survived _ **Paradise,** forget the New World.

Cannons fire as the sound to begin combat.

The monster trio and sniper of the Strawhats manage the vast majority of cannonballs, some slashed, some exploded, and some kicked or thrown right back at the government cannoneers.

Katakuri takes his time analyzing his new allies strengths and abilities. He knows Luffy’s quite well already. The swordsman’s skills are something to behold but he seems to leave himself open to attack in favor of landing more powerful blows. The cook is quite the acrobat, all graceful movements and powerful kicks but is easily distracted by women, both allies and enemies alike. Of those observed in combat though none mystify him more than the sniper. He seems to be loud and squirrly and uses a slingshot of all things- and yet - simply his presence on the crew suggests something more, if he were truly afraid of their opponents he could have relocated to a number of places where he would be at less risk of harm. And every time he fires, for a split second, all of his features are clear and his eyes focused and his aim true. Despite the panic and theatrics, the man had yet to miss a single shot.

Their ships hit shore and it’s time for the close range fighters to pitch in as they storm the beach. The chaos of combat quickly envelops them all and he turns his focus to taking out as many as he can.

A few seconds into the future is the most he can see, but with so many enemies and such demand for quick thinking, the seconds don’t matter. His ability to dodge in a way that mimics that of a logia type is enough to wrack some nerves but is unfortunately of limited effect on such large numbers of marines, many of the higher ranking officers equipped with sea prism stone.

Between dodging and blocking he focuses mainly on trapping and incapacitating so he can take them all out in large blows when few attacks are aimed back at him.

The waves start to die down and the numbers lessen. He chances a glance into the future and sees a harpoon through his abdomen- behind him! He turns on his heel, ready to form his body to allow the harpoon to pass right through.

Only for the predicted attack to never come.

The soldier is tangled up against his weaponry by strong, moving vines.

Katakuri gazes across the battlefield to find many similar places of concrete crumbling around carnivorous plants of many varieties. The source? None other than the sniper of the Strawhat pirates.

The sniper however, much to Katakuri’s mounding confusion and silent frustration, is in the _middle_ of the battlefield- in other words; _literally the main place a_ ** _sniper_** _should not_ _be_! And on top of that, while the man is _surrounded_ by enemies, he is _still_ providing cover fire for his allies, including Katakuri himself.

This mind-boggling display tells him two things; this sniper is either exceptionally brave or exceptionally stupid -maybe both-, and he is exceptionally skilled as every shot finds its mark even amidst the chaos.

Katakuri moves in to give the sniper support as his allies have strayed dangerously far from their long-range combatant. 

The sniper is clearly startled by the much larger fighter’s sudden appearance and aid but wastes little time accepting the help, even more panicky than he was on the ship.  _ So why in the fuck is he in the middle of combat??? That’s not how snipers work????  _

“H-Hey what are you-!?”

Katakuri simply picks up the sniper to plop him on his shoulder. Katakuri’s height effectively gives the sniper a better view of the battlefield whilst keeping him out of main combat. Probably not the  _ best _ idea he’s ever had given the slingshot user’s tendency to scream and flail but for some reason he couldn’t just leave the poor man to suffer from his crew’s infamous chaotic inability to strategize.

The relocation had momentarily silenced the sniper and gears seemed to turn in his head, realizing what his allie was doing for him without a single word exchanged. Then he turned back to the field- Katakuri can cover them close range while Usopp covers the rest of the team.

This is when Katakuri notices.

Haki.

This guy is using haki.

If he focuses long enough to gauge he’d say the sniper has more powerful observation haki than even himself and has somehow managed to mask the presence of it almost entirely.

With his observation of the man’s haki came the realization that since he’d been given the conditions a sniper _ should  _ have he’d fallen completely silent. Firing with absurd speed given his weapon of choice and landing every hit. An investigative assessment of the area reveals the clever traps being laid and triggered on the other side of the small island, keeping reinforcements from reaching the main fight. These traps are being laid in between support shots covering his allies from melee fighters and opposing gunfire-  _ behind the navigator, to the swordsman’s left, would’ve hit the shipwright’s lower back, almost silenced the musician’s violin.  _ The sniper’s aim so fast and precise that he was shooting bullets out of the air. Goggles hide his eyes but the razor sharp expression can be  _ felt _ .

He turns his focus back to the marines closing in on them and concentrates on fighting them off without jostling the sniper perched on his shoulder too much. The resulting teamwork is astonishingly coordinated, especially impressive for two strangers who don’t even know each other's names yet.

Unbeknownst to the pair in the moment, that coordination is due to a display of mutual trust- Katakuri trusting the sniper so close to him where he did not others, and Usopp in lowering his guard and natural instinct of self preservation to trust that Katakuri would protect him.

  
  


The marines seem to be falling back, retreating from the area. Strawhat and company recon at the shore near the ships, Katakuri letting Usopp slide down his arm to run and meet up with his crewmates.

“We don’t need to take the whole base- just leave em’ that half of the island until the poses are set.” Bege proposes, having observed that on top of how unlikely it would be to get the marines to retreat completely given that they don’t currently have enough ships at their disposal to do so.

“But we can still loot _ this _ half of the island  _ riiiight _ ?” Nami drawls. Not that that was an actual question- the day Nami doesn’t insist on taking money is the day the world ends.

“I don’t see why not!” Lola laughs, “I think I spotted a room for valuables in that building over there!” she links her arm through Nami’s and the pair begin to run off to merrily loot together.

“Splitting up too much would not be wise.” Katakuri cautions, “It is unlikely that they won’t launch another counter attack soon.”

“Don’t worry Nami dearest! Lola sweet! I’ll protect you both!!” Sanji spinns to stand in front of them and gently grasp each of their free hands.

“And who’ll protect you if some marine woman attacks, perverted cook?” Zoro bites.

“What was that, mosshead!?” Sanji shifts focus to lock on the swordsman, reving up for a duel.

“I’ll join if you don’t mind. They may have some interesting information in their logs.” Robin ignores their resident bickerers.

“Yohoho, and I’ll come along to keep you all company!” Brook brandishes his violin to play a short and peppy walking tune.

The bickering has now escalated to a full blown dual, legs and swords, and raw strength met by two very befuddled crews and one rather blase group.

“Do they… do this a lot?” Pudding asks, struggling to remain neutral to the display her crush is giving.

“Hm? Oh yeah all the time.” Chopper barely glances up from sorting his medical supplies.

“Admittedly I am still getting used to it…” Jinbe sighs.

“To be honest I’ve seen them argue over more ridiculous things than that.” Usopp leans casually against a post for the docks, rifling through his bag until he produces his sketchbook.

“Well I don’t see armies linin’ up and Sunny didn’t take any damage so I suppose we can all just have a SUPER chill time.” Franky poses.

“And that means PARTY! SANJI!!! MEAT! AND LOTS OF IT!” Luffy shouts, throwing himself on Zoro’s shoulders, effectively ending their squabble.

“Yeah, yeah, go figure. I’m on it.” Sanji gives Zoro’s swords one final kick, mind already on how to best utilize their resources for a meal for a group of this size.

“...Hey did we ever do introductions?” Usopp asks suddenly, causing everyone to pause.

“......”

“Yeah son, I think that’s a SUPER negative on the introductions!”

“Shishishi, sorry I forgot you guys haven’t met yet!”

“Guess I’ll start.” Usopp pushes to stand at full height and strike a pose, all confidence and charming grins that were absent just moments ago on the battlefield, “Name’s Usopp, the brave and talented sniper.”

“And I’m Franky, the SUUUUPER shipwright!” He slides in to pose behind Usopp.

“My Name is Tony Tony Chopper and I’m the crew’s doctor!” The little reindeer cheers, sliding in to pose alongside his friends.

“Zoro. Swordsman.” he keeps it short and opts not to pose.

“Name’s Sanji and as you’ve probably figured I’m the chef.”

“I’m Chiffon, this is my husband Bege, our son Pez, as well as the boys Vito and Gotti!” she lovingly introduces the crew. “There’s also my little sister Pudding,” the mentioned girl does a conflicted motion between a friendly smile and wave and a disgusted sneer. The result is….an expression. “My big brother Katakuri,” the aforementioned man looks down at them with cool eyes and offers a curt wave. “And my big sister Brulee.” at the mention of her name she pops her head up, obviously distrustful of their new companions.

“You’re here too!?!?” Chopper exclaims, surprised by the sudden reappearance of yet another former enemy.

“This is gonna be a long week…” she grumbles under her breath.


	3. Party

The strawhats are turning out to be just as he suspected and yet nothing like he could have predicted. They are all friendly and impulsive and an unhealthy amount of crazy and yet, each and every one of them is wholly and entirely unique.

From the bombasticity of Franky to the cool quiet of Robin. From Zoro’s nerves of steel to Usopp’s knees of jelly.

Some eat, some drink, some dance.

They all party differently and yet they all party together.

Katakuri let his mind wander away from analysis as Usopp stumbles over to him, certainly less than sober.

“Alright Mr.Cool handsome and brooding!” He calls out, “you’ve been angsting waaaay over here aaaaallll night!”

“And?”

“Dance with me.” he grins

_ An unhealthy amount of crazy. This one especially. _

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Katakuri looks down at the  _ much _ smaller man, neglecting the fact that he could just say no.

“I’ll figure it out! The great and wonderful Usopp is a genius I’ll have you know!”

Katakuri humms, skeptically amused as the sniper wanders off into the woods. He makes sure to keep an eye in his general direction but isn’t left waiting long.

Usopp returns.

On bamboo stilts.

So tall they effectively make him taller than Katakuri.

_ Where did he get bamboo that tall? How did he even get up on them? How is he balancing on those while drunk?? _ Questions race through his head.

Usopp manages to bow, extending his hand “May I have this dance?” his tone is exaggeratedly snobbish.

It’s been a long time since Katakuri has wanted to laugh. It’s been even longer since he let himself. But the moment overpowers his years of self control and a deep chuckle bubbles its way out of his chest.

“And what if I told you I’ve never danced before?”

“And what if  _ I _ told  _ you _ I’ve never danced on stilts before?!”

“Fair enough,” Katakuri eyes the other partygoers. A decent distance away, just far enough to be reasonably out of sight from the average eye but still hear the music.

Logic can take a hike, just for tonight, Katakuri thinks. He ignores his carefully built image- on the open ocean there isn’t much point, let alone in front of someone who clearly couldn’t care less. He even ignores the logic that he could just use his powers to make himself smaller- what would be the fun in that after the Sniper has done so much work.

  
  


Brulee walks aways away from the ships to find her brooding brother- she knew he wouldn’t be far but he certainly wouldn’t be anywhere near the party.

She startles at the sound of laughter- one high and boisterous, the other low and muffled.

To her complete awe and utter bafflement she finds her brother dancing with one of the strawhat pirates on ridiculous stilts. She doesn’t even know if she can call it dancing it’s so awkward. But they’re both laughing. If she looks close enough she can even see the corners of her brother’s mouth peaking up out of his scarf.

She sighs. As much as she distrusts these pirates, she can’t dislike the one who made her big brother laugh for the first time in years.

She walks back towards the ships, chest a little warmer and feelings towards their new companions just a bit softer.


	4. Out Of The Blue

Usopp lays on Sunny’s lawn, staring up at the new drawing in his sketchbook. Pieced together from half-remembered drunken memories.  _ There’s still something missing. _ It’s on the tip of his pencil but the back of his brain. He can feel it but he just can’t will it to be revealed on paper.

He drops the pad and turns his head to the large sweets ship where the newest inspiration for his sketchbook sits regal and ridgid. The appearance feels wrong somehow but he can’t possibly place why.

A sudden anxiety kicks in and Usopp sits upright, head turning to the other side of the island instinctively without any discernible cause. He tries to shake the feeling off through his hands and tilts his head- he gets these anxiety spikes often but that never stops him from searching for the unseen cause.

After a few moments of anxious pondering, questioning everything that could possibly have put him on edge, he sees Zoro and Katakuri tense and turn their heads in the same direction in his peripherals and Luffy sits up a little straighter on the figurehead.

Yeah. Something’s about to happen.

Katakuri suddenly moves his body to shield Brulee from bullets that would have hit her had he not foreseen the attack. Before most of the various crew members could even register the sudden attack, Katakuri is hit.

And he crashes into the water.

A seastone weighted net designed to drag the biggest threat to the depths of the sea. The marines had planned this counter attack quite well- not surprising given they’d had three days now to plan.

Various marines shout in the distance and begin making their way towards the pirate ships.

The biggest concern right now though is the devil fruit user in the water.

Brulee is shrieking, the two crews frantically trying to think of a way to haul the giant man back aboard.

Zoro clenches his jaw. He’d be strong enough to lift Katakuri on land no problem but water means a lack of traction that would allow him to do so. He decides to try anyways, ready to dive in when he’s suddenly pushed aside.

Usopp leaps off the side of Sunny, slingshot loaded, and fires off a chain of pop greens. His bare feet splash in the thin layer of water as the lily pads have yet to break the surface tension. The ships are a good distance apart but Usopp covers it in record time and dives into the water after Katakuri.

  
  


The biggest downside of being an active pirate in the open seas, Katakuri thinks, is that rumors of your abilities spread too fast. He couldn’t foresee the followup attack fast enough to react to the seastone that slammed him into the water.

He stares at the vast abyss below him, unfortunate enough that the ship had been further out in the water and not in the shallows near the shore.

Suddenly a sound alerts him to someone diving into the water above him.

The sniper’s long curls float majestically around him as he tests a few tugs at the chains. The net fortunately enough had gotten tangled up in itself and thus only wrapped around one spot. Usopp eyes his slingshot, visibly annoyed by the knowledge that water resistance wouldn’t allow him to use it under water. He shoves it back into his bag and grabs a small orb.

Before Katakuri can even question what kind of ammunition it is, let alone how he’ll use it without his slingshot, Usopp shoves the thing between his teeth. As soon as the shell cracks, he shifts it to his palm and slams it onto the chains.

An explosion of bubbles engulfs them and Katakuri can feel an intense heat on his side but the weight of the chains just slips away. He blinks several times to find the sniper, left hand clutched to his chest in pain as his right digs through his bag once more, his knees holding onto Katakuri’s vest so that they sink together.

Usopp’s expression is serious in concentration but his knees are a dead giveaway to his inner anxiety. Katakuri has no idea how this guy plans on getting them out of this mess but his oxygen-deprived brain is preferring to focus on how handsome he looks with his hair loose and how beautifully the fading light reflects off of his dark skin and deep brown irises.

Usopp pulls the pop greens out of the bag and repeats what he did before, this time pushing it softly against Katakuri’s bare chest. In seconds a plant of sorts wraps around his torso and inflates like an innertube, pulling the pair back to the surface.

As soon as the surface tension breaks they’re both gasping for air.

The water drains from their ears and the sounds of battle hit them just as suddenly. Bullets already whizzing by their heads.

Katakuri registers the surprised and relieved shouts of their crewmates but still struggles to shake off the daze that’s overcome him courtesy of still being mostly submerged in the ocean.

He hears the familiar panicked cry of the sniper who just saved his life. The man digs through his bag again, producing his slingshot and promptly shoving the handle between his teeth to reach into the bag once more with his good hand and pull out two identical orbs, slightly larger than his usual ammunition. Just as a bullet grazes his cheek and a cannonball crashes a mere foot or so from them, Usopp slams the orbs onto the ground which explode in a puff of smoke and quite rapidly spread to cover them with a rather impressive smoke screen.


End file.
